>> pelley: tonight, taking on the gangs. chicago announces new tactics against an epidemic of murder. dean reynolds reports from the street. we'll ask the mayor about his war on gang violence. >> we have a gun issue, we have a gang issue, and we're going right at the heart of it. >> pelley: the president tries to change the subject from jobs to tax cuts, but not cuts for everyone. norah o'donnell is at the white house. seth doane has lance armstrong's answer to the doping charges that could strip him of his titles. and john blackstone on how a former gang member in los angeles is rescuing a new generation. captioning sponsored by cbs this is the "cbs evening news" with scott pelley, reporting tonight from chicago. >> pelley: good evening. there's an important story

breaking this summer, and it is happening here in america's third-largest city. homicides in chicago are up 38% this year. that's 275 murders so far in 2012. nearly all of them casualties of a gang war. it's even more remarkable when you consider that overall crime in chicago is down, and so is crime nationally. the police here tell us that july is the worst month for murders, saturday the worst day, 9:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. the worst hour. today the mayor announced a new attack on gangs and we'll have our interview with the mayor in just a moment. but we'll start with this last weekend. 17 new shootings, and dean reynolds was at the hospital to meet them. >> reporter: at the cook county trauma unit in chicago's strojer hospital, one ambulance after another delivers victims of the gang violence that just won't stop. >> we'll be doing a whole bunch to you right now. >> reporter: this unit treats about 1,500 gunshots and

stabbings a year. >> stop that! >> reporter: in the first six months of this year, chicago had 22% more murders than new york, a city with five and a half million more people. >> we have to assume the worst case. >> reporter: in the midst of the mayhem is dr. fred starr, who was in charge of the unit this weekend. >> i've seen more people probably this year who have been caught in the cross fire or caught a stray bullet and that is certainly alarming. >> reporter: how do you react? >> you certainly get angry to some extent but also when i see the children, i have three children of my own, and it makes it very personal for me. >> reporter: the victims include seven-year-old heaven sutton, shot to death selling candy outside her home. and ten-year-old kitanna peterson, shot as she played in the spray from a fire hydrant. she was treated at this unit last week. >> they happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. they're collateral damage to some of the violence which is

happening on the streets. >> reporter: do you ever feel overwhelmed? >> it gets busy here but you get used to it. >> on the way in we heard another shooting call going over the radio. >> reporter: we met paramedic wesley metcalf moments after he brought in a man with a head wound. >> we had a call last month, a young man going to his prom 4:00 in the afternoon, five people shot him. shot in the chest in his tuxedo, brought him here and he was d.o.a. 17 years old going to his prom. >> reporter: among veteran gang members treated at the hospital there's a nonchalance that's almost breathtaking. >> like three times over here, twice over here. >> reporter: this man asked us not to identify him, though he did show us his wounds. >> i was shot three times in 1997, i was shot once in 2002 and 12 times in 2012. to me it's just a steady flow of violence. i can't tell if it's worse or if it's not worse. >> reporter: dr. starr also told us, scott, that not only has

there been a 28% increase in the number of shootings and stabbings his unit has treated, but it's common to see people with multiple gunshot wounds. in one case, 20 gunshot wounds. and that man survived. >> pelley: dean, thank you. a short while ago we visited city hall and met with chicago's new mayor, rahm emanuel. emanuel took office a little over a year ago. he was white house chief of staff in the first two years of the obama administration. before that he was a chicago- area congressman. mayor emanuel brought in a new police superintendent and crime is down in this city about 10% with the one exception of murder. i got a letter from a viewer the other day who asked us why we were spending so much time at the evening news covering afghanistan when more people were dying in chicago. why is the murder rate up 38%? >> well, first of all, scott, let's give everybody... your viewers a fair view.

crime year over year is down 10%. >> pelley: other kinds of crime, other than homicide. >> burglary, armed robbery, theft, 10%. so we have a gun violence issue specifically tied to gangs. so we've readjusted the strategy, closing liquor stores in communities where they are a magnet and cancer on the community for gangs and narcotics, boarding up buildings or tearing them down where gang bangers have taken them over. putting the command and district leaders in responsible positions and holding them accountable for results. >> pelley: one of the things new york city has done to attack its gun issue is the procedure that's known as stop and frisk, a police officer is allowed to frisk someone he believes is suspicious. will you go to that in chicago? >> we have a chicago version of that and we're going to stay with what we have here in chicago. but you have to be very aggressive in making sure that the gang bangers know that the police force and the community run those streets, they don't.

>> pelley: when seven-year-old heaven sutton was killed last month, caught in the cross fire, the mayor had a message for the gangs. after heaven sutton was killed you said "it's not about crime, it's about values." >> yes. >> pelley: what do you mean? >> we've got two gang bangers, one standing next to a kid. get away from that kid. take yourself to the alley, don't touch the children in the city of chicago, don't get near them. and it is about values. as i said then, scott, who raised you? and i don't buy this case where people say they don't have values. they do have values. they have the wrong values. don't come near the kids. don't touch them. >> pelley: what promise can you make to the people in the city who do worry about their safety and the safety of their children? >> i will make a pledge, because the most important thing i care

about is when you have violence in a city, even if you're not a victim, i don't want you to think about your safety. us adults, your pastor, your parents, your principals, we'll take care of those problems. that's our problem. you think about your studies. >> pelley: the mayor pointed out that there are 23 police districts in chicago and the gang violence is limited to eight of them. we're going to have more of our interview with the mayor later this week as he tells us what he's doing about jobs and the economy. on the subject of jobs, president obama is trying to get past the latest report on unemployment. that report on friday said the economy created just 80,000 jobs in june as the unemployment rate held steady at 8.2%. today the president, in a tough reelection battle, decided to talk about something more appealing to voters, tax cuts.

norah o'donnell is at the white house tonight. norah? >> reporter: the president insists this proposal is about protecting middle-class americans. but this is also about politics because the president knows full well that republicans will never go along with his plan and that's exactly the kind of election year fight he'd like to have. >> reporter: republicans say they don't want to raise taxes on the middle class; i don't want to raise taxes on the middle class. so we should all agree, extend tax cuts for the middle class. let's agree do what we agree on. (applause) right? >> reporter: but there is no agreement. president obama is calling on congress to pass a one-year extension of the bush-era tax cuts for households earning less than $250,000 a year and individuals earning less than $200,000. those tax cuts expire at the end of december and the cost to taxpayers for the year: $150 billion.

i'm not proposing anything radical. i just believe anybody making over $250,000 a year should go back to the income tax rates we were paying under bill clinton. back when our economy created nearly 23 million new jobs, the biggest budget surplus in history, and plenty of millionaires to boot. >> reporter: but republicans-- including mitt romney-- want to make permanent all of the bush- era tax cuts, including those for households earning over $250,000. the cost to taxpayers? an additional $850 billion over the next ten years. >> in many ways the fate of the tax cut for the wealthiest americans will be decided by the outcome of the next election. my opponent will fight to keep them in place, i will fight to end them. >> reporter: mitt romney said today that the president's proposal would mean a massive tax increase on job creators and small businesses.

many of those small businesses pay at an individual tax rate. but the president said it would affect just 3% of small businesses. still, scott, that would affect about 250,000 small businesses. >> pelley: four months to election day. thanks, norah. it was a bad weekend for american troops in afghanistan. seven soldiers were killed, six of them in one bombing. john bentley is our man in afghanistan and he joins us from kabul tonight. john, the bombing that killed the six soldiers, what have you found out about that? >> well, scott, the six american soldiers were on patrol in an armored vehicle southwest of kabul when they struck an enormous roadside bomb. it's estimated the bomb contained roughly 200 pounds of homemade explosives. coalition forces are still investigating this attack, but the overall number of i.e.d. fatalities here is actually going down. those roadside bombs used to be the leading cause of deaths for troops in afghanistan, but their effectiveness has been reduced

because of advances in training, equipment and intelligence. two years ago, 368 soldiers were killed by i.e.d.s; so far this year 77 have been killed. so while these deadly ambushes are still a major threat to soldiers here, the numbers are going down. >> reporter: john bentley in kabul reporting for us. john, thanks very much. now syria where the dictator bashar al-assad is out to crush a rebellion that broke out 16 months ago. the u.s., turkey, and other nations have said it's time for assad to go. but in an interview with german t.v., assad said he will not and he accused the u.s. of meddling in syrian affairs. >> pelley: clarissa ward has been covering the syrian uprising for us. tonight she's just over the border in turkey.

clarissa, we just heard assad say that the u.s. is part of all of this. i wonder, what is the opposition telling you about his claim that he will not step down? >> reporter: well, the opposition believes that these types of comments are just more clear indications that the regime's mentality has not changed. this is exactly the type of rhetoric that president assad has been using for over a year now. and they also see it as evidence u.n., kofi annan's peace plan is that special envoy from the u.n., kofi annan's peace plan is essentially doomed to fail because the opposition will not agree to a plan that allows president assad to stay in power. and president assad, with these comments, has made it abundantly clear that he has no intention of stepping down voluntarily. >> reporter: clarissa, some of the fiercest fighting has been over the border from where you are now. i'm wondering, are you seeing any refugees flowing into turkey? >> absolutely, scott. there are 36,000 syrian refugees

living here in turkey now and 300 more are crossing that border every single day. this border has become incredibly tense in the last couple of weeks with turkish bolstering its military presence here and saying that they are ready to meet the challenges that the syrian military may put to them. >> pelley: the conflict spilling over the border. thank you very much, clarissa. a heat wave breaks and so does a record for hot weather. lance armstrong loses a round in court as he fights doping charges. and what it will take to repair the washington monument when the "cbs evening news" continues. i stepped on the machine, and it showed me the pressure points on my feet and exactly where i needed more support. i had tired, achy feet. until i got my number. my dr. scholl's custom fit orthotics number. now i'm a believer. you'll be a believer, too. learn where to find your number at drscholls.com.

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so you can use less gel. log on now to androgeloffer.com and you could pay as little as ten dollars a month for androgel 1.62%. what are you waiting for? this is big news. acid today the last 12 months have been the warmest on record in the continental united states temperatures were mild here in the midwest today and across much of the nation, a welcome relief. last week's heat wave killed at least 65 people and broke more than 2,000 daily temperature records. lance armstrong has until saturday to answer charges brought by the u.s. anti-doping agency. agency, or usada. today he responded in a different way, by suing the agency in federal court. his suit was immediately tossed out, though the judge said he could refile the suit within 28 days. seth doane has the latest.

>> reporter: the lawsuit armstrong filed today accuses usada of conducting a process that is rigged and violates his constitutional rights, adding the anti-doping agency has a vendetta. armstrong's legal team wants usada's case dropped because it could ban him from athletic competition and strip the cyclists of his unprecedented seven tour de france titles. the district court judge dismissed this case this afternoon without prejudice and will allow armstrong's legal team to refile within 20 days. but in a strongly worded order, the judge wrote: usada has accused armstrong of using illegal performance enhancing drugs and methods during the years he won the tour. a source close to the investigation says more than ten former teammates and associates of armstrong are prepared to testify under oath against him.

one of those former riders is tyler hamilton, the subject of a "60 minutes" report on doping inside armstrong's cycling teams. he talked about the use of banned blood transfusions that increased endurance. >> pelley: did you see armstrong getting the blood transfusion? >> yeah. >> pelley: you didn't see them take his blood weeks before, but you saw the transfusion going back into his blood during the tour de france race in 2000? >> yeah. i was transfusing blood, my teammate was, i guarantee you every other team had probably two or three riders doing the same thing. >> reporter: the cancer survivor and champion vehemently denies ever having doped and says he's passed more than 500 drug tests in his career. armstrong is not the first athlete to sue the anti-doping agency. so far none have been successful. seth doane, cbs news, new york.

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the quake-- a magnitude 5.8-- was centered about 80 miles away. no one was hurt, but the 555 foot tall monument suffered serious damage. last september, daredevil engineers rappeled down from the top to find out how bad it was. from up there, it was pretty easy to see. cracks cut across marble panels, fractured stones held in place by a pipe. the repair job is expected to cost $15 million with the work to begin this fall. so enjoy the unobscured view while you can. the monument could be wrapped in scaffolding for a year and a half. just outside washington today, six americans were laid to rest nearly 50 years after their final mission. a flag-draped casket held the remains of all six airmen buried at arlington national cemetery. their plane disappeared on a combat mission over laos in 1965.

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violence here in chicago but the problem is worse in other cities. the city with the highest rate of gang-related death is los angeles. so we asked john blackstone to find out exactly what los angeles's doing about it >> this former gang member spends a summer nights at the park in his east los angeles neighborhood, often telling kids how lucky he is to be alive. >> i took four bullets, one in the shoulder, to in my shoulder and one in my spine. >> he was 20 and on the path to an early grave. >> i have been in jail, i was shot four times. so, >> at 36, he has a paid job to stop gang violence. the park is part of that, one of 32 in gangrene in los angeles neighborhoods where the lights stay on until midnight for pickup games and organized

leaves. even gang members are welcome here but he convince them to not start trouble. >> the goal is to have this be a safe zone. we engage the people that we need to talk to and promote peace. >> he is one of more than 100 former gang members trained by the city to negotiate peace. charlie back as the los angeles police chief. >> what can they do that a police officer cannot? >> lincoln park to those gang members just like i talk to young police officers. i can see where they're going and they know where the road leads. >> it sounds like dangerous work? >> there is nothing safe about gang violence. nothing safe about stopping gang violence. >> the danger is real for rodriguez but so is the accomplishment. >> a day of not having anyone shot, and no other crime, that is a successful day. >> since los angeles started recruiting former gang members

in 2007, homicides have dropped by more than a third. and shots fired have been cut in half. >> it is not easy living that life style and it is not glamorous. it is pain and sorrow and suffering. >> for him, salvation came by rescuing others. >> we should not leave chicago without reminding you of what a great city this is. as mark twain wrote " it is hopeless for the occasional visitor to try and keep up with chicago, she is always a novelty, never the chicago that you saw when you pass through the last time ". that is the cbs evening news before tonight with thanks to wbbm tv for their hospitality and from all us all run the world from cbs news, good night. >> good evening i am alan martin

>> i am dana king. state and federal officials in oakland touting job creation. >> governor brown basking in the victory of the legislature approval of funds to circling the state's high speed rail system. but political reporter grace lee shows us that the victory could come at a price. >> we did have high level officials here, as you mentioned, the governor as well as a federal secretary of transportation. they were here to talk about the $15 million of federal money that they will be getting at the port of oakland but the subject turned to high-speed rail. both men back and each other up saying that this is a smart long-term investment. >> high-speed rail is coming to america, and real high-speed rail, 200 mi. per hour trains, will begin here in california. >> it is a job creator and thank god that we got it. >> the governor says he is proud